Senior Alula Alderson lay shaking—partly because she was mid-plank as a part of post-track practice conditioning, but mainly from the anticipation of knowing the admission decision from her dream school had just been released.
After the excruciating minute was over, Alula grabbed her backpack, walked to the corner of the cafeteria, and with trembling hands, opened the admissions portal.
“I didn’t tell anyone I was opening it,” Alula said. “I was so expecting a ‘no.’ ”
But then she saw the red confetti.
Alula had just gotten admitted into the Stanford class of 2028.
“It was the shock of my life,” says Alula. “I started crying on the ride home because I was really overwhelmed with emotion.”
For many other seniors like Alula, the college decision process is a tumultuous time, with many tears of happiness, bouts of angst, and a desperate search for an answer to the pressing question: “What school am I going to call home for the next four years?”
The answer to this question is different for every one of the 30 seniors. From small rural liberal arts schools to some of the nation’s largest public universities, these seniors are headed all over the nation, chasing after all kinds of dreams and aspirations.
Over the course of the past year, the Class of 2024 has submitted over 300 applications and earned 157 acceptances from 110 universities.
“It has been a remarkable year for the Class of 2024,” says Mr. Alvarez, the college counselor. “So many of them have been able to find the colleges and universities that fit them best, and I look forward to hearing about their experiences in coming years.”
Senior Matthew Galgano, who is heading to Ohio State University, has a clear vision of what he is looking to pursue in these coming years.
“I’ve known for quite a while that I wanted to study aviation,” says Matthew. “The OSU aviation program stood out to me because of their state-of-the-art planes and simulators, and the overall comprehensiveness of the program.”
As an Ojai native and a long-time OVS student, the transition from a small private school to a large public school with one of the nation’s largest student body might seem daunting, but Matthew is ready.
“I like the idea of having balance,” Matthew says. “OSU has a bunch of home football games and extracurriculars, but also small living-learning communities that make the school feel smaller.”
A two-hour flight away from OSU is The New School, located in New York, New York. Senior Vlada Antipkina will be attending Parsons, the School of Design at The New School for photography—a passion she developed during her time at OVS.
For Vlada though, the top-notch darkroom facilities at Parsons weren’t the only thing influencing her decision but another major factor: location.
Vlada has always known that she wanted to live in New York, and visiting The New School only solidified her desire.
“As soon as I stepped foot on the campus, I was like ‘that’s where I’m going,’” says Vlada.
From that decisive moment on, Vlada has continued to pursue her passion in photography, capturing things from Icelandic horses to fashion models all through the lens of her camera. All of that, for one goal—acceptance into Parsons.
“I knew that my New York dream would die if I got rejected from Parsons.”
But now, Vlada gets to call her New York dream a forthcoming reality.
“I was on a call with my parents already when I got the notification that there was an update to my portal,” Vlada says. “The next thing I know, I’m jumping, then screaming, then finally crying. I couldn’t believe that I did something right.”
Even as the year nears to an end, some seniors are still in the process of settling on a single school. It’s not an easy choice—a single decision brewed from the culmination of a year-long effort.
For Alula though, that choice was obvious once she attended the Stanford Admit Weekend.
“I attended a journalism class, and I’ve never been in such an incredible class,” she said. “You could tell that they [the students] wanted to be there and they wanted to learn, and just being in that environment, I was like, wow, like, I think I’ll really thrive here.”